Our Newsletters

See the latest. Or take a dive into the archives.

Top 10 Inventory Management Terms

Today we are going to go over my TOP 10 inventory management terms and abbreviations:

1. OTB (also know as the big, bad Open-to-Buy)

OTB is a tool for inventory management that allows for flexibility in planning based on your successes and challenges

2. Over Buying

Over buying is when you purchase too much inventory. This causes a need for increased markdowns that therefore decreases profits.

3. Under Buying

Under buying is when you don’t purchase enough inventory and therefore lose revenue and customers because you don’t have enough to sell

4. Plan Sales

The amount of sales you are forecasted to do monthly

5. Markdown

Any reduction in retail price after merchandise has been received in stock. Though this may sound like the worst thing ever, the consumer knows this as a sale (who doesn’t love one of these) and for retailers, it’s an important tool for managing inventory and profitability.

6. Stock to Sales Ratio

The comparison of the sales to be done to the amount of inventory needed to do those sales (completed based on MONTH)

7. Turnover

Compares annual sales to the average inventory over 13 months (completed based on YEAR)…this measures how quickly your merchandise is moving, or how quickly your inventory is changing

8. GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Investment)

Measurement of inventory turnover as well as gross margin dollars that the turnover of merchandise creates…simply put, it’s the retailers return on investment.

9. MMU (Maintained Mark-up)

Gross profit on merchandise sold

10. IMU (Initial Mark-up)

The difference between the cost of an item and it’s original selling price (usually done as a %)

Stay tuned for more retailing magic from me, Sammy as I continue to hit the ground running. Have questions? You know where to reach us…here!